I have been busy washing fleece. I have two romney/coopworth colored fleeces (one almost black and the other grey/beige). I am using new tools and equipment since I don't have a washing machine to use for my fiber purposes anymore. It takes a bit longer to do everything - probably because I am much slower now with my belly :-). But, so far so good.
How am I washing my fleece?
1- fill a tub (rubbermaid tub) with water half way and put the fleece in lingerie bags...and put them in the tub carefully. Let them sit for a day.
2- Boil water using a patio stove (2 burner one) in big stainless steel fryer pots until the temp reaches 150 degrees Farenheit.
3- Fill two other pots with the right amount of boiled water + Power Scour. I do 1lb of Power Scour per 20lbs of wool. And, per each tablespoon of Power Scour I add a gallon of boiled water. I submerge the fleece and let it sit for 20 minutes.
4- Use a spin dryer to spin water out of the fleece
5- Repeat step 3 with less Power Scour...about half the amount (unless it looks really dirty in which case I would put 2/3 the original amount).
6- Repeat step 4
7- Repeat steps 3 and 4 if still too dirty (everytime with less water)
8- Using the boiled water, fill containers with it plus cooler water to make the total temp reach about 120-110 degree Farenheit. Using this temp, rinse the fleece...I usually repeat the rinsing 3 times (so 3 repeats of this step), and after rinsing each time for 5 minutes or so, I use the spin dryer to get the excess water.
9- Lay flat to dry!
Anyhow...since I am absolutely tired from doing these tasks this week, I have really enjoyed my "ration" of coffee (only a cup a day for me right now)...yummy!!
I also had a chance to stop by the local quilt store and got a bag full of leftover fabric strips that I hope to use for some crazy spinning :-)
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